1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related generally to systems and methods for reducing perceptible odors, and more specifically to a system and method for using an ozone generator or similar device to prevent foreign scents from being detected by animals being hunted.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art discloses a variety of devices and methods that purportedly reduce or masking detectable scents. Examples of such devices and methods are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,309,388; 4,867,052; 4,941,270; 5,087,426; 5,433,919; 5,468,454; 5,484,472; 5,514,345; 5,539,930; 5,547,476; 5,667,564; 5,681,355; 5,762,648; 5,766,560; 5,789,368; 5,790,987; 5,911,957; 5,931,014; 6,007,770; 6,009,559; 6,134,806; 6,134,718; 6,149,038; 6,156,268; 6,163,098; 6,284,204; 6,312,507; 6,355,216; 6,379,435; 6,503,547; 6,564,591; 6,565,805; and 6,576,190, and published U.S. patent application 2003/0044308—all of which are incorporated fully herein by this reference.
Hunters in particular have an interest in masking or eliminating their scent that could potentially alert game being hunted to their presence in the field. Game animals, such as deer and bear rely heavily on their sense of smell to react with their surrounding environment, including sensing danger, interacting with other animals and finding food. Scents that are not a natural part of the environment or that are associated with a food source will often function as a warning to such animals and often results in deterring the game animal from approaching a particular area when the foreign scent is detected.
According to Bernier et al. in Analytical Chemistry, 2000, volume 72, issue 4, pages 747-756 and references cited therein which are incorporated fully herein by reference, as many as 346 discernible compounds were identified in human skin emanations. The majority of these were carboxylic acids, alcohols and esters, but aldehydes, aromatics, heterocyclics, ketones, sulfides and thio compounds were also identified. Work cited in Bernier has identified over 100 compounds from human breath. Work cited in Bernier identified foot odor as another source of odor. Some of these compounds are the result of bacteria reacting with body emanations, while other compounds directly emanate from humans. Other compounds emanating from humans can include pheromones, deodorants and perfumes as well as the detergents, perfumes, scents, and additives left on human clothing. While it is not known which specific compound or blends of compounds emanating from humans are identified by an animal as human, there is currently no effective way to safely eliminate or reduce odors from humans and from clothing and equipment enough to reduce the odors to inhibit detection by game animals when a hunter or hunters are situated inside a hunting blind or other temporary structure employed to conceal visibility from animals.
Persons interested in preventing detection by animals of human odors or interested in attracting animals often use masks, attractants, or cover scents to prevent alerting and spooking the animal. Some commonly used masks are carbon sprays which, in addition to being dangerous to inhale and which can irritate skin, become ineffective once dry. Many attractants contain animal urine or estrous, which besides being offensive to the human user, have limited shelf life and are generally ineffective since, especially the estrous-based attractants, tend to occur naturally only in certain seasons. Cover scents, such as fruit extracts or fragrances, last for only a short time since they have a half-life in which the amount of cover scent diminishes over time if not reapplied. In addition, they are often so over-powering that the animal easily identifies the smell as unnatural. The use of descenting soaps and shampoos is messy, time-consuming, often skin irritating, often ineffective and does not address breath odor. Breath descenting using herbs is generally distasteful, and facemasks containing carbons or sieves are extremely uncomfortable.
More recently, the use of clothing containing activated carbons and/or clothing containing bacteria killing metals such as silver has gained some popularity. However, activated carbon has a very low capacity for odorants and requires temperatures preferably above 400° C. and more preferably above 600° C. to regenerate the carbon. These temperatures are well beyond temperature (100 C to 120 C) that a conventional gas or electric clothes dryer is capable of achieving. Placement of clothing in ovens capable of achieving 400 C plus temperatures needed to regenerate the carbon can damage the fabric of a garment. Silver or other metal-containing clothing requires direct contact of the metal with the bacteria to be effective, which is almost never the case since the clothing would then be so restricting as to be uncomfortable. These types of clothing are also expensive and do not address human odors such as those in human breath, nor do they address any of the odors emanating from the foot or any exposed part of the skin like the head and hands.
It has been discovered that gaseous ozone effectively kills bacteria and reduces or eliminates odors emanating from humans as well as odors contained in clothing worn by hunters. The advantages of ozone over other known masking and descenting methods include the facts that: ozone is a gas that eliminates odors emanating from a person (e.g., a hunter) and from personal equipment and can eliminate odors in a space between a person and an animal; and ozone is completely natural to the environment and leaves behind a very pleasant clean smell that wildlife and humans readily recognize, e.g. after a lightning storm. Known ozone generators include, but are not limited to, electrical discharge, UV light, radio wave and combinations thereof. The generator may be battery operated, operated with a car adaptor, and/or may be operated with AC current. The AC current may be supplied directly from an electrical outlet, or may be supplied using a portable generator.
Ozone has been described to treat odorous air, microorganisms, bacteria, mold, smoke, aromatic hydrocarbons, and volatile organic compounds (see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,961,878; 2,203,188; 3,421,836; 3,750,556; 3,937,967; 3,949,056; 4,045,316; 4,863,687; 4,904,289; 4,990,311; 5,087,426; 5,835,840; 5,983,834; 6,094,549; 6,613,277; 6,632,407; 20020030022; 20060096331; and references cited therein, which are incorporated fully herein by this reference); and foreign references EP 261987; WO 200151096; WO 2003089017; WO 2005021135. WO 2005077425 and references cited therein, which are incorporated fully herein by this reference. In examples where clothing or personal effects are placed in a container, a portable enclosure, or a special descenting closet or room located, e.g., in a lodge or cabin in which the hunter is staying, as soon as the hunter leaves the building and enters a vehicle, or passes a moving vehicle, or begins to sweat, any prior descenting is of little value.
Animals have an acute sense of smell and are capable of recognizing a human scent or any other scent that is not advantageous in that environment at long distances. Moreover, game animals have an innate ability to detect individual scents when multiple scents are blended together that may not be detectable by humans. To avoid scent recognition and detection, a hunter will attempt to stay down wind of the animal being hunted. Certain known methods used by hunters to trick animals are to mask the human odor utilizing a carbon spray, cover spray scent or an animal scent. Unfortunately the animal scents which are utilized, are obnoxious and linger on the clothing for long periods of time and often do not mask out human scents. Some of the scents utilized include animal urine. A hunter who is camping overnight does not desire the animal scents to be carried over to bedtime, home, car, etc.
There are other drawbacks in utilizing animal scents or any other scents. The scent may attract a predator that the hunter may not be prepared to encounter. Containers containing food, beverages, or any other substance emit scents readily recognizable to animals that may not be masked by animal scents or may not be natural to a given environment. Female hunters can emit a readily recognizable scent to animals from menstruation that may not be masked by animal scents. Also, the weapon used by the hunter has an odor recognizable by some animals that cannot be disguised with a scent.
In the past, hunters have prepared their clothing before hand by washing to remove prior scents and/or human odor. The soaps used in washing clothing may, however, leave a detectable odor. Moreover, out in the field, the hunter will sweat and permeate the clothing with a human scent, making any prior washing ineffective.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,740 to Brais discloses an apparatus for sterilizing bottles utilizing ozone, the entirety of which is incorporated by this reference. The reference recognizes that ozone in large quantities can be harmful or irritating. Ozone is a powerful oxidizing agent. Ozone has 150% of the oxidizing potential of chlorine and twice the oxidizing potential of bromine. Ozone has been shown to be much more effective than chlorine with a reaction time up to 10 times faster. Ozone also readily self-destructs into simple diatomic oxygen due to its inherent instability. Ozone oxidizes biological products and kills bacteria. Catalytic ionization of air using ultraviolet light is known to produce a mixture of ozone-containing hydroxyl and hydroperoxide ions. Ionization devices that are used to eliminate smoke and odors, e.g. those used in automobiles, are known in the art to produce hydroxyl and hydroperoxide ions. Other oxidizing agents are also known in the art.
For safety reasons, government regulations have recommended, and sometimes regulated, the amount of ozone to which a human is to be exposed. For example, OSHA requires that employee permissible exposure limit (PEL) as an eight-hour time-weighted average value of 0.1 ppm ozone in air or a two-hour time-weighted average value of 0.2 ppm ozone in air. The OSHA short term exposure limit (STEL) is 0.3 ppm over a 15 minute period, not to be repeated more than two times in an eight hour period. Prolonged exposure of humans has produced no apparent ill effects at 0.2 ppm.
Consequently, it is desirable to provide a system and method for effectively removing or masking human scent while ensuring that a concentration of ozone within an at least partially enclosed structure is controlled to at or below acceptable levels.